Volume 109, Issue 6, Page 988
Authors:
Kurt T. Barnhart, M.D., M.S.C.E
Abstract:
Lind, founder of naval hygiene in England, wrote a classic treatise on scurvy, in which he described the first deliberately planned controlled therapeutic trial ever undertaken:
I took 12 patients…with scurvy…[who] had one diet common to all.
Two of these were ordered each a quart of cyder a day.
Two others took twenty-five drops of elixir of vitriol…
Two others took two spoonfuls of vinegar…
Two…were put upon a course of seawater….
Two others had two oranges and one lemon…every day.
Two remaining patients took an electuary…made of garlic, mustard, balsam of peru and myrrh.
